Minnie G. Brown (1872–1956) During her time as the lead soprano soloist at St. Mark's M.E. church, Minnie was dubbed the "human mockingbird." The Empire State Federation (Suffragist) Member sang "By The Waters of Babylon" to eulogize the death of Harriet Tubman. Minnie founded the Musical School Settlement for Colored Children in Harlem and helped organize black musicians, serving as the president of the local musicians' branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians. Maple Grove New Cemetery (also known as New Maple Grove Cemetery) ​ 210 Main Street, Hoosick Falls, NY 12090 Rensselaer County Learn More

Lucy Read Anthony (1793–1880) Lucy attended the Rochester Woman's Rights convention in August 1848 and signed the Declaration of Sentiments. She supported her husband's temperance and abolitionist activism, as well as Susan's reform work and decision not to marry. Miss Anthony eulogized her mother. "My mother always said, Go and do all the good you can." Mount Hope Cemetery Section C, Lot 93 1133 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

Elizabeth Newell Ferguson Hershey (1866–1948) Elizabeth was a lifelong resident of Gorham, NY. Married twice, Elizabeth was buried with her first husband as Elizabeth Ferguson. Elizabeth and her step daughter, Bessie Hershey, were active in suffrage organizations in their area. She is noted as belonging to the Ontario County 1919–1920 League of Women Voters. No other documentation on Elizabeth's participation has been found. Gorham Cemetery ​ Route 245, Gorham, NY 14561 Ontario County Learn More

Rhoda Anne Hallock Glover (1826–1920) A lifelong resident of Long Island and mother of five, Rhoda spent her later years vigorously supporting the suffrage movement. She was the vice president of the Political Equity League of Queens and Nassau Counties. Rhoda also served as a member of the Nassau County Suffrage Club in Rockville Center and was later named as the permanent honorary president. Well into her 80s, Rhoda rode in suffrage parades along with Edna Kearns and others. The 1913 photo shows her driving her horse drawn carriage in a parade from Mineola to Hempstead. Rhoda was known as Long Island’s oldest suffragist. Old Bethany Cemetery ​ 12605 Main Road (Route 25), Mattituck, NY 11952 Suffolk County Learn More

Lula May Loomis (1883–1948) Lula May was born in Port Leyden, where she lived her entire life. There she married J. Clark Loomis in 1905, and continued to be active in several community organizations. She was a member of the Port Leyden Woman’s Suffrage Club, often hosting meetings in her home. In 1915, the club proposed starting a “melting pot” for the suffrage cause, encouraging members to donate odd pieces of gold, silver, or other metals. If you know more about Lula May, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Port Leyden Cemetery ​ Pearl Street, Port Leyden, NY 13433 Lewis County Learn More

Fannie Barrier Williams (1855 –1944) “I dare not cease to hope and aspire and believe in human love and justice…” Frances (Fannie) was born in Brockport, NY, to one of only a few black families residing in the overwhelmingly white community. Fannie would look back on her youth as a time of innocence, also believing that these childhood experiences of “social equality” ill-prepared her for the racism that she faced later in life. Her growing awareness of the unfair treatment African American women received led her to pursue a lifetime of activism and strengthened her commitment to improving their lives. In 1870, Fannie became the first African American woman to graduate from SUNY Brockport, then Brockport State Normal School. After graduation, Fannie Barrier went to teach in the Washington D.C. area, hoping to help the freedmen. Life there was very different from what she had experienced and she was “shattered” by the discrimination she encountered. In 1887, she married Samuel Laing Williams, and the couple moved to Chicago where Fannie’s husband opened a law practice with Ferdinand Barnett, husband of Ida B. Wells Barnett. It was in Chicago that Fannie Barrier Williams became one of the most celebrated figures of her time. No longer teaching, Fannie became very active among Chicago reformers. She was director of the art and music department of the Prudence Crandall Study Club, formed by Chicago’s elite African-American community. She worked for the Hyde Park Colored Voters Republican Club and the Taft Colored League. An associate of both Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, she represented the viewpoint of African-Americans in the Illinois Women’s Alliance and lectured frequently on the need for all women - but especially black women - to have the vote. Recognizing the lack of services available to women, Fannie helped to found the National League of Colored Women in 1893 and its successor, the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896. When she became aware of the lack of African-American physicians and nurses in the hospitals, she helped to create Provident Hospital in 1891, an inter-racial medical facility. Fannie was instrumental in the creation of the Frederick Douglass Center in 1905, and the Phillis Wheatley Home for Girls. The latter became part of a national movement, and the hospital and settlement house still serve the Chicago community today. Fannie was the first African-American and the first woman on the Chicago Library Board, waging a battle for the representation of African-Americans at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. She succeeded in having two staff appointments designated for African-Americans. Fannie herself was appointed as Clerk in charge of Colored Interests in the Department of Publicity and Promotions. She was also invited to present two major addresses, one to the World’s Congress of Representative Women and the other to the World’s Parliament of Religions. In the first, The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women of the United States Since the Emancipation Proclamation, followed by a discussion and words of praise from Frederick Douglass, Fannie disputed the notion that slavery had rendered African-American women incapable of the same moral and intellectual levels as other women and called on all women to unite to claim their inalienable rights. Brockport Cemetery (aka High Street Cemetery) Lot 415 (West Entrance to the end on right) 79 High Street, Brockport, NY 14420 Monroe County Learn More

Frank E. Cobb (1858–1941) Married to suffrage activist Francis Gertrude Goodnow, Frank himself became active in women's suffrage. His sister-in-law is also active in women's suffrage, Alice E. Goodnow. Frank owned Cobb Drug Store and was probably influential within the community. All three are buried next to each other in Boughton Hill Cemetery, Victor. If you know more about Frank, you can help us tell his story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Boughton Hill Cemetery Old Ground, Section D, Row 13, Lot 12, Grave 3 1518 NY-444, Victor, NY 14554 Ontario County Learn More

Maude Cyril Nagle Schmidt (1873 –1947) Maude was a leading voice of the Herkimer County Suffrage Convention back in 1917. She was elected leader of the county organization and was heavily involved with the activities of the Ilion Suffrage Study Club. Always civic minded she became the first woman leader of the Herkimer County Republican Committee along with memberships in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Red Cross, and Ilion Historical Club. She is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Muriel Cornelia Zoller, wife of Supreme Court Justice Abram Zolier, Herkimer. Maude is included in a Herkimer County Historical Society documentary which is included in a link here under "Learn More". Armory Hill Cemetery (AKA German Flatts Cemetery, Ilion Cemetery) Section 3, Lot 5 Benedict Avenue, Ilion, NY 13357 Herkimer County Learn More

Leah Wheeler Freeman (1890–1987) Little seems to be known about Leah's suffragist activities other than that she was involved in the Bristol Women's Club where she was a speaker on the topic of Women's Suffrage. If you know more about her, you can help us tell her story. Please use our Add a Suffragist form to submit your information. Evergreen Cemetery (AKA Baptist Hill Cemetery) ​ 3812 Co Road 2, Bloomfield, NY 14469 Ontario County Learn More

Anna Murray Douglass (1813–1882) Anna Murray was an American abolitionist, member of the Underground Railroad, and the first wife of American social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass, from 1838 to her death. Anna was a member of the Anti-Slavery Society as well as a regular donor. Like her husband Frederick, she was committed to the emancipation of her people. In Rochester, she was also an agent on the Underground Railroad – where she provided food, clean clothes, and a safe place for fugitive enslaved people to stay on their journeys to freedom in Canada. An early advocate of Women’s Suffrage, Anna Murray's husband Frederick Douglass is often called a Suffragent. His enlightenment was said to be influenced by relationships with some of the movement’s founders. But the example of his wife Anna Murray Douglass must have also been a major and earlier influence. She was among the most fearless and independent women in his life and had been so even before they met. The records of Caroline County, Maryland, held at the state archives show that 17-year-old Anna and three of her siblings requested official "Certificates of Freedom" from the county court on 29 May 1832 attesting to their free status. The certificates enabled them to travel freely in Maryland, because the law required they provide proof that they were free people, or risk being enslaved. It is likely that Anna and her brother and sisters were planning to move to Baltimore, where Anna eventually met Frederick Bailey [Douglass] and helped him escape. A resourceful young woman, she established herself as a laundress and housekeeper and became financially secure. Murray's freedom made Douglass believe in the possibility of his own. When he decided to escape enslavement in 1838, Murray encouraged and helped him by providing Douglass with some sailor's clothing her laundry work gave her access to. She also gave him part of her savings, which she augmented by selling one of her feather beds. After Douglass had made his way to Philadelphia and then New York, Murray followed him, bringing enough goods with her to be able to start a household. Anna's daughter Rosetta reminded those who admired her father that his "was a story made possible by the unswerving loyalty of Anna Murray." Mt. Hope Cemetery Section T, Lot 26 1133 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester, NY 14620 Monroe County Learn More

Addie Waites Hunton (1875–1943) Addie was a leading African-American reformer -- a powerful force in the YWCA/YMCA movement and a founder of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). As the first African-American employee of the Young Women's Christian Association, a segregated institution at that time, Addie leveraged the power of its national network to support civil rights. Her husband William Alphaeus Hunton was the first African-American employee of the Young Men's Christian Association. They both traveled extensively for their jobs and moved several times. She was a leader in every community in which they settled: first in Richmond, VA, then in Atlanta, and finally in Brooklyn. Addie Hunton was a well-known speaker and writer from 1900 onward, publishing in popular periodicals like Voice of the Negro, Colored American Magazine, and later the NAACP's The Crisis. As a leader in the very white world of the YWCA, she pushed that organization to be more engaged in fighting lynching and discrimination. At the same time, she urged African-Americans to appreciate the power of working with the YWCA/YMCA despite its segregated structure. Her experiences during World War I bitterly informed her activism. After her husband died in 1916, Addie accepted the YMCA's request to go to Europe to support African-American troops. Historian Adrienne Lash-Jones describes her experience: "Upon reaching France for this assignment, she found that she was one of only three Black women permitted to work among two hundred thousand racially segregated Black troops." Work in the war effort exposed Addie to the most blatant racial discrimination that she had ever experienced, as she witnessed the many ways that Black troops had to endure officially sanctioned racial prejudice and segregation while they served in the United States armed forces. Her book, Two Colored Women with the American Expeditionary Forces (1920) co-written with Kathryn M. Johnson, is most revealing of the bitterness and indignation that she felt as a result of the entire experience. Her book also revealed the smoldering anger within the Black community as they fought to participate in the war effort, and their disappointment with the lack of progress that their participation made. Upon returning, Addie joined the women's peace movement. Due to racism in the white-led peace groups, Addie Hunton and Mary Margaret (Mrs. Booker T.) Washington created a new peace group, the International Council of Women of the Darker Races. She traveled the world for that group and for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, a more deliberately integrated organization. In addition to leading both of those peace groups, Addie remained an active board member - often president or executive committee - of NACW, NAACP, YWCA, and the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs. Bio by Rachel B. Tiven. Cypress Hills Cemetery ​ 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 Kings County Learn More

Rachel Schenck Martin (1844—1937) Rachel served as the Vice President of the New York Chapter of Women Suffragists, as established at an 1869 Convention in Saratoga. Evergreen Cemetery Possibly Jackson Lot 296 Martin Road, Fonda, NY 12068 Montgomery County Learn More

Zaida Zoller (1882–1980) Little Falls was regarded as “the hot bed of Herkimer County” for women’s suffrage and Zaida Zoller was central to the activity. Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw were guests at meetings held in the Zoller home. Zaida was chairwoman of the Little Falls Suffrage Club. In 1916, the Herkimer County Suffrage Convention was held in Little Falls. In 1917, Zaida hosted a Suffrage School meeting. Zaida’s twin brother, Abram (Mayor of Little Falls), spoke on the benefits of women’s suffrage. A suffrage library was also established at the local YMCA. In that same year, Zaida invited Dr. Anna Howard Shaw (past-president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to Little Falls to attend a suffrage party at her home. Zaida organized numerous meetings and parades. After the passage of the 19th amendment, she was president of the Little Falls Chapter of the League of Women Voters. Fairview Cemetery ​ 1274 NY-169 (West Monroe Street), Little Falls, NY 13365 Herkimer County Learn More

Bessye Johnson Banks Bearden (1893–1943) Bessye was a journalist and civic leader known particularly for her work with the Democratic Party. She wrote as a correspondent for the Chicago Defender and was the first black woman elected to the New York City Board of Education, a position she served in for seventeen years. Bessye was tapped to work for the IRS as an auditor while continuing to be an active community leader. She served on the executive boards of the Urban League, Council of Negro Women and the Harlem Community Council and was the first president of the Colored Women's Democratic League. Bessye and her husband, Richard Bearden, opened their Harlem home to artists and intellectuals. The Jazz Cadence of American Culture described Bessye as a political force, someone you came to to cut through red tape and get action. Her son, Romare Bearden, became a famous collage artist. On the community level, Bearden served on numerous boards, including the Citizens Welfare Council, the Harlem Community Council, the NAACP, and the Utopia Neighborhood Club. She received a number of honors for her devoted service, including medals from the Citizens' Welfare Council and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Bessye accomplished a lot in her 52 years. Woodlawn Cemetery ​ 4199 Webster Ave, Bronx, NY 10470 Bronx County Learn More

Maritcha Remond Lyons (1848–1929) Maritcha was an American educator, civic leader, suffragist, and public speaker. In 1892, she founded the Women’s Loyal Union of New York and Brooklyn. one of the first women's rights and racial justice organizations in the United States. The organization helped fund the printing of Ida B. Wells’ anti-lynching pamphlet, "Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases." In 1897, Victoria Earle Matthews, a journalist for the New York Age, and Maritcha Remond Lyons founded the White Rose Association, a social settlement that provided assistance to southern, black women migrants in Manhattan. She was also a member of the Colored Women's Equal Suffrage League of Brooklyn, an organization dedicated to voting rights for African-American women. Maritcha was a dedicated teacher for 50 years and rose to the position of assistant principal of an integrated public school. She was the second African-American to hold such a position. Cypress Hills Cemetery ​ 833 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 USA Kings County Learn More

Grace Edna Lewis Cornwall (1877–1957) Born in Beaver Falls, NY, Grace was the daughter of Julia Slocum and James Polk Lewis, founder of J. P. Lewis Paper Company. She was actively involved in the paper industry for years, inheriting shares of her father’s company. Grace married Harold D. Cornwall in 1911, and devoted her time to several community organizations throughout Lewis County. As an advocate for women’s suffrage, Grace served as the district leader of the Lewis County Woman’s Suffrage League from 1914–1916. During her chairmanship, the number of suffrage clubs throughout the county increased from only two to sixteen. Once she was able to vote, Grace continued her civic involvement by becoming a member of the Lewis County Women’s Republican Club. Riverside Cemetery (AKA Beaver Falls Old Cemetery, Salem Cemetery) ​ 9586 Beaver Falls Road, Beaver Falls, NY 13305 Lewis County Learn More

Gussie Mable (Narcissa) Cox Vanderlip (1880–1966) Gussie was a leading New York suffragist and a co-founder of the New York State League of Women Voters. She was Chairman of the 24 and 25 Congressional Districts of the New York State League of Women Voters in 1918-1919. In 1919, Gussie was elected as State Chairman of the NYS League of Women Voters. She also recruited Eleanor Roosevelt to join the League of Women Voters board of directors, having previously worked with her on wartime relief projects; they were friends. Gussie helped found the Scarborough School, the the first Montessori school in the U.S., with her husband, Frank Arthur Vanderlip. During World War I, Gussie served as Chairman of the War Service Committee of the NYS Woman Suffrage Party. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Lot 3413, Section 65 Lebanon 540 N Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Westchester County Learn More

Reverend Annis Bertha Ford Eastman (1852–1910) Annis was a restless intellect who was under-nourished by the opportunities for women in her day. Despite those limitations, she became a pulpit minister, an active suffragist, and a lifelong student of philosophy, religion, and psychology. Two of her children - Max and Crystal Eastman - became well-known reformers and intellectuals, influenced by their mother’s ideas. Annis and her sisters grew up in Peoria, Illinois in a household with a violent, alcoholic father. All five sisters were determined to make their own living, which Annis did by seeking a college education at Oberlin College (class of 1874). There she met her husband, Samuel Eastman, who was studying for the ministry. They settled in Canandaigua, NY. The early years of their marriage were fraught and difficult, marked by the births of their four children and the death of their oldest son at age seven. In 1886, Samuel Eastman’s health collapsed and he stepped down from his pulpit. This made space for Annis to lead both the church and the family. In 1889 she was ordained a Congregational minister based on her independent study of scripture, one of the first female clergy in the denomination—and the country. She led a church in Brookton, NY (near Ithaca) and became increasingly well known as a preacher. In 1893 she addressed the World’s Parliament of Religions at the Chicago World’s Fair. The following year Annis and her husband were both hired as assistant pastors of Park Church in Elmira. Whether Samuel Eastman was active in the ministry or hired because they would not have hired Annis alone is unclear. When Rev. Thomas K. Beecher died in 1900, the Eastmans were elevated to co-pastors with Annis as the intellectual leader of the church. Her own academic journey included summer study at Harvard with some of the great men of philosophy, and she grew increasingly skeptical of Christian dogma. In 1907 she led the church to change its affiliation from Congregational to Unitarian. The shift indicated her own engagement with the secular world. In her 50’s she became increasingly interested in suffrage and social reform. In 1908 she addressed the 60th anniversary ceremony at Seneca Falls—giving one of two keynotes, alongside Mary Church Terrell, one of the most prominent African-American activists in the country. In 1910 Annis wrote a eulogy for Mark Twain, Elmira’s most famous resident, but was too sick to speak so her husband delivered it on her behalf. She died later that year. Samuel Eastman outlived his wife by 15 years. Their shared headstone reflects the partnership Annis Eastman and her husband eventually developed: ministers and equals. Bio by Rachel B. Tiven. Woodlawn Cemetery Section 5, Lot 207 NP 130 N Pearl Street, Canandaigua, NY 14424 Ontario County Learn More

Lillian Huffcut (1890–1920) Lillian was a lead organizer of the Broome County Woman Suffrage Party and also held executive positions in the NYS Women's Suffrage Party and was a director of the League of Women Voters; the latter group formed out of the Votes for Women Club after suffrage was won. Floral Park Cemetery ​ 104 Burbank Avenue, Johnson City, NY 13790 Broome County Learn More

Leila (Lee) Vanderbilt Stott (1880–1969) Leila (Lee) was an active suffragist and educator in New York State, who was also connected to the settlement house and labor movements. She herself never married. Lee was especially active in the final few years of the push for suffrage in NY, chairing the National Woman's Party 3rd district in Albany, NY. She held meetings in Ravena and Voorheesville, NY. In October of 1917, Lee and other New York suffragists journeyed to Washington to hear a special address from President Wilson, who showed his support and passion towards women's suffrage. However, the suffragists who were present sought to push the President to work harder and to push Congress to actually grant women the right to vote. Lee was recognized on the National Roll of Honor of the National League of Women Voters in Washington D.C. as a substantial suffragist throughout the movement. Along with 72 other women, Leila Stott's name was inscribed on a bronze tablet that was placed in the national headquarters of the National League of Women Voters. *courtesy alexanderstreet.com Hudson City Cemetery Sec. B, Lot 48 Cemetery Road, Hudson, NY 12534 Columbia County Learn More